The suspect in Canada’s Tumbler Ridge mass shooting posted about weapons and looking on her YouTube channel and appeared to have written about her struggles with mental health online, in accordance with social media posts.
Canadian police named 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar as the shooter who killed her mom and 11-year-old stepbrother earlier than opening fireplace at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, killing 5 college students and a instructor and then fatally capturing herself. Police are nonetheless investigating and haven’t decided a motive.
Van Rootselaar, who was transgender, transitioned about six years in the past, in accordance with police. She was a resident of the distant city in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia and had dropped out of school about 4 years in the past.
According to social media posts, verified by NCS, Van Rootselaar had entry to weapons and was captivated with looking.
Jennifer Strang, the suspected shooter’s mom, posted a photograph to Facebook in 2024 of a cupboard holding what seems to be six looking rifles, with the caption “Think it’s time to take them out for some target practice.”
Van Rootselaar spoke about looking and weapons on a YouTube channel, in accordance with a 2021 Facebook submit by Strang.
Strang posted a hyperlink to what she described as Van Rootselaar’s YouTube channel, which comprises “posts about hunting, self-reliance, guns and stuff (she) likes to do.” Strang inspired her mates to test it out and subscribe.
That YouTube channel had been taken down as of Thursday. An archived search confirmed a number of movies posted on it with titles associated to firearms.
A Reddit person with the similar username as the YouTube channel, and whose exercise is in step with the channel and the age of the suspected shooter, posted a video in 2023 of themself utilizing a gun at a firing vary.
While Canada has far stricter gun laws than the US, it’s authorized to personal sure varieties of weapons with a sound license. Children between 12 and 17 can use a firearm for an accredited function similar to looking or goal follow with a Minor’s License.
Police recovered two firearms, a protracted gun and a modified handgun at the scene on Tuesday, although neither was registered to Van Rootselaar, whose license expired in 2024.
Hunting is a standard pastime in Tumbler Ridge, Rev. Gerald Krauss of the city’s New Life Assembly Church instructed NCS.
The small city is finest recognized for its nature and is surrounded by wildlife together with deer, moose, elk, wolves, and grizzly and black bears.
The neighborhood is not any stranger to weapons however a deadly capturing was “brand new,” in accordance with Krauss. “Everybody hunts and no one did something stupid,” he mentioned, calling them “very responsible people who live here.”
Police seized firearms from Van Rootselaar’s residence a pair of years in the past however later returned them when the proprietor petitioned for them, Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police mentioned on Wednesday. Police didn’t specify the proprietor of the firearms.
McDonald mentioned police had additionally visited Van Rootselaar a number of instances in recent times concerning mental health points, and that on some events “the suspect was apprehended for assessment and follow up.”
The most up-to-date go to, final spring, was over “concerns regarding mental health, self-harm,” he mentioned.
On the Reddit account which matched the username of Van Rootselaar’s YouTube channel, a number of posts overtly mentioned struggles with mental health points, with the poster saying they’d sought psychiatric assist in 2023. The Reddit posts additionally detailed drug use.
When requested if the city had sufficient assist for mental health companies, the city’s mayor, Darryl Krakowka, mentioned it was one thing the neighborhood was quick on.